Bump-protection molding

ABSTRACT

The disclosure is of a molding in the form of a V, wherein the vertex of the V extends outward from the panel which the molding protects. The legs or free ends of the V are secured to the panel which is to be protected, and toward that end, opposed flanges extending outward are secured to the free ends of the V and are provided with a pressure sensitive adhesive to cause the molding to adhere to the panel. The body of the molding is formed with a cavity between the legs of the V in order that the molding may be flexible about an axis of symmetry passing through the vertex of the V. Either or both flanges on the vertex side of the V can be and preferably are provided with a decorative strip. The axial thickness of the body at the vertex is roughly one-third of the total thickness of the molding from the outer extremity of the vertex to the surface of the panel to which it is secured.

waited States Patent Loew Aug. 29, 1972 [54] BUMP-PROTECTION MOLDING 2 It Theod Loe h Primary Examiner-Arthur L. La Point [7 nven or ore Scenectady N Y Assistant ExaminerRobert Saifer [73] Ass1gnee: The StandardProducts Co., Cleve- Att n y Meyer, Tilberry and Body land, Ohio 22Filed: June 8, 1970 [571 ABSTRACT [21] Appl 44,212 The disclosure is ofa molding in the form of a V, wherein the vertex of the V extendsoutward from the panel which the molding protects. The legs or free [52]US. Cl. ..293/1, 293/62, 52/716 ends of the v are Secured to the panelwhich is to be [51] ll?!- Cl ..B60l' 13/04 protected and toward that endopposed flanges [58] meld of Search "293/1, p 71 71 62; tending outwardare secured to the free ends of the V 267/139 52/716 718 and areprovided with a pressure sensitive adhesive to cause the molding toadhere to the panel. The body of [56] References cued the molding isformed with a cavity between the legs UNITED STATES PATENTS Of the V inorder that the molding may be flexible about an axis of symmetry passingthrough the vertex 3,290,082 12/1966 h": of the V. Either or bothflanges on the vertex side of 3,572,798 3/ 1917 Kunevlcius ..293/1 the Vcan be and f bl are provided with a 3,441,305 4/1969 Trammell, Jr..'..293/1 decorative Strip The axial thickness f the body at the3,471,979 10/ 1969 Herr ..52/ 100 vertex i roughly one thh-d of thetotal thickness f the 2,873,993 2/ 1959 Savke ..293/62 molding from theouter extremity f the vertex to the 2,958,555 1 1/ 1960 Johnson et a1..293/62 Surface of the panel to Whieh it is Secured. 3,543,465 12/1970Jackson ..52/716 3,201,212 8/ 1965 Zaremski ..29/l 83.5 3 Claims, 3Drawing figures PKTE'N'TEI'Jmszs m2 INVENTOR. THEODORE LOEW BY W M WATTORNEYS.

BUMP-PROTECTION MOLDING BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The field of theinvention is protective moldings for finishedpanels which are subject todamage by contact with sharp objects. More specifically, a principalfield of the invention is the side panels and doors of automobilebodies, and especially the high spots of such side panels and doors. Aswill be recalled by those skilled in the art, it is currentlyfashionable to make such side panels and doors in a curved form so thata portion of the side of the automobile sticks out farther than the restof the car body. Moreover, it has been the fashion of late to providesome automobile bodies with a sharp line or ridge in order to simulatesculptured steel. The crease or ridge which forms the angle of thesculpture is highly exposed and is extremely vulnerable to damageespecially when the automobile is parked alongside another car and thedoor of the other car is carelessly opened and banged into the panel ofthe adjacent automobile. The critical aspect of the problem in making amolding to protect such a bulge or ridge is the variety thereof. Bulges(or ridges) on automobiles vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, frommodel to model,

I and from year to year, and there is no commercially available moldingthat is universally applicable. There is aneed for a molding with a highdegree of transverse flexibility to make it adaptable to many differentshapes.

In the prior art, it has often been customary to place moldings andother trim items on the side panels solely with a view to obtaining adesired artistic effect, rather than with a view to protecting the highspot of the car panel. Such trim strips and moldings are usually notplaced'in a location which will offer much if any protection to the carfrom the doors of other automobiles opened forcibly into the side of theprotected car. Where such protective strips have been applied, thesehave often been simple chrome-plated steel strips which presentexcellent collecting places between the strip and the car body forcorrosive salts such as those that are used to maintain roads free fromice and which destroy automobile bodies.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide atough, yet flexible, protective molding for finished panels which areexposed and thus are vulnerable to damage by contact with sharp or heavyobjects which may be forcibly driven against such panels.

It is a further object to provide a molding which serves to protect anexposed panel while at the same time adding to the esthetic appeal ofthe panel.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a protectivemolding which can be applied by the ultimate customer-user of theproperty which is made with exposed panels subject to damage.

It is another object of the invention to provide a protective moldingwhich is applicable to a wide variety of sizes and shapes of panelshaving protruding shapes, edges, orridges.

The invention relates to a molding to protect a finished, the moldingbeing of a tough resilient substance such as a vinyl resinand formed tohave a high degree of transverse flexibility. To achieve thatflexibility, the body of the molding is formed to resemble a V incross-section, with the vertex of the V being quite thin so as to beflexible, and the free ends of the V carrying opposed andoutward-extending flanges which are adapted to be secured by a pressuresensitive adhesive to the panel which is to be protected. A molding madeaccording to this invention can serve the purpose of protecting thepanel to which it is secured even though it may not perform anydecorative function, but of course in many cases it will be desirable toprovide a protective molding which is also pleasing in appearance andtoward that end, the outer surface of the two flanges can be providedwith a decorative strip to enhance the appearance of the molding.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a conventional automobile, to whichva molding made according to this invention may be applied.

FIG. 2 is a view in cross-section through a molding made according tothis invention and in its free state, i.e., before its application tothe car body or such other panel which it is intended to protect; and

FIG. 3 is a view in section substantially on line 33 of FIG. 1, and onapproximately the scale of FIG. 2, showing the protective molding inplace on an automobile body. (The molding shown in FIG. 3. does not havethe decorative strips referred to.)

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG. 1 shows a conventional automobileindicated generallyby 2 and having the usual side panel or panels. Ashere shown, the left side of the automobile is presented to theobserver. In the illustration, the automobile shown is what isconventionally called a twodoor, and the door there showing is the leftdoor 4,

' which of course presents a substantially wide expanse of a panel whichcan be easily damaged by various means, such as the expedient of thedoor of an adjacent automobile being opened and forcibly striking theside of the protected car. In addition to the door 4, there is also inthe embodiment shown a rear quarter panel 6, a rear fender 8, and afront fender panel 10. All of the surfaces 4, 6, 8 and 10 present panelsor areas which at some time or other are exposed to various forms ofdamage and which correspondingly require protection of some sort if thepleasing appearance of the automobile is to be maintained.

The automobile shown in FIG. 1 is illustrated as being provided with aprotective molding 12 made according to this invention. The protectivemolding 12 extends from a panel portion adjacent the front wheel backalongside the automobile body to a point near the rear end of rearfender 8. Obviously, in order to make the door 4 so that it can beopened and closed, the molding 12 must be discontinuous at the leadingand trailing edges of the door panel.

There customarily are curvatures in the side panels, usually at leastone portion of the automobile body presenting a strip or ridge or otherprotuberance extending farther out from the side of the car than therest of the side panels and therefore subject to a greater degree ofdamage simply because it is the portion that is hit first. Thisprotuberance or ridge or curved portion may of course be any of a numberof shapes and sizes, and may vary in cross-sectional shape and anglefrom model to model, manufacturer to manufacturer and from year to year.Such a ridge having an included angle of approximately 150 is shown at14 of FIG. 3, to which reference will be made later in this description.

Referring now to FIG. 2 of the drawings, the protective molding is showngenerally at 12 and consists of a body which may be an extruded strip ofa vinyl resin, such as a polyvinyl chloride, such resins being wellknown to those skilled in the art.

The vinyl resin body referred to above and shown in FIG. 2 at 14 is madeso as to be a tough, resilient, nonporous and impervious substance, andfor the sake of economy of production consistent with stylingrequirements, is desirably extruded to have the cross-sectional formshown in FIG. 2, in its free state. As shown, the body takes the form ofa V, with the vertex of the V shown pointing to the observers left inFIG. 2, and here identified by the reference character 16. The body isresilient about an axis XX and, as here shown, is symmetrical about thataxis. Toward the objective of resilience, body 14 is provided betweenthe free ends with a cavity 18. Moreover, to achieve a maximum ofresilience about axis X-X, the body thickness along axis X-X (i.e., thethickness of the vertex) is in one commercial form of the order ofone-fourth of the total dimension from the very tip of vertex 16 to thesurface of the panel to which the protective molding is ultimatelysecured; in actual dimensions, it is about onesixteenth inch thick. ltwill be apparent to those skilled in the art that there is some leewayin the axial thickness of the body at the vertex. One of the determiningfactors is the degree of resilience which the molding desirably willhave; another contributing factor to the resilience will of course bethe stiffness of the resin of which the body is formed. Still anothercontrolling factor in determining the axial thickness of the body at thevertex is the degree of protection which the molding must provide. Theroughly one-fourth fraction (or one-sixteenth inch) which has beenreferred to above has been found to be a reasonable compromise betweensufficient strength and sufficient flexibility to provide a moldinghaving a high degree of commercial utility.

The free ends of the V are provided with opposed flanges, here shown at20 and 22. At their outer extremities, the flanges are preferablyprovided with beads 24 and 26 respectively.

On the cavity side of the protective molding, the flanges are preferablyprovided with an aluminum foil 28 bonded thereto. Suitable foamed strips30 and 32 are bonded to flanges 20 and 22 respectively. In the processof manufacture of the molding 12, the foamed strip is applied from aspiral roll in which the strip has a pressure-sensitive adhesive on eachside, adjacent layers of foamed strip and their adhesive coatings beingseparated by an easily removable protective paper covering. Theadhesively coated foamed strip is unrolled so that the side with theadhesive coating exposed is adjacent the foil 28, leaving the other facecovered by the easily removable paper covering.

Specifically, pressure-sensitive adhesive coatings are shown at 33 and34 on. opposite sides of the foamed strip, and a protective papercovering is shown at 35, which will .be peeled 'off by the customerbefore the customer applies theprotective molding to the desiredlocation on the panel which is to be protected.

Desirably, the flanges on their vertex sides are provided withdecorative strips to give the molding a more pleasing appearance, andtoward that end strips 36 are bonded to the flanges. Strips 36 may beany one of a number of such materials, as for example a metallized,dyed, or printed polyethylene terephthalate. Polyethylene terephthalateis marketed by DuPont as Mylar, and by Goodyear as Videne, or a stripknown commercially as Tedlar, suitably printed, may be applied.

In the illustration of the applied invention in FIG. 3, the door panel 4is shown as provided with the aforesaid sculptured steel effect or ridgeas shown at 44. It will be understood by those skilled in the art thatthe ridge 44 will extend outward farther than other portions of the carbody, which means that the ridge 44 will be more exposed than otherportions of the body and will take the brunt of damaging'blows which areoften suffered by automobiles in every day use. It will be founddesirable or expedient to provide a protective molding made according tothis invention to the ridge 44 which extends along a substantial portionof the front-to-rear length of the automobile. The included angle formedby the panel on opposite sides of the ridge or crease 44 will of coursevary with the use to which the panel is put andwith the design of thepanel for esthetic or other reasons. Thus, the protective molding couldbe put on a panel presenting a nearly plane surface, with the anglebetween the two sides forming very nearly On the other hand, anotherpossible application of such a protective molding could be a much moreprominent angle in a formed panel, wherein the angle between the sidesmight be substantially less than 180. It is desirable that a moldingmade according to this invention have as wide a latitude as possible inits application. For the molding to be applicable to a wide variety ofpanels, it is desirable that the molding have a high degree offlexibility, and such flexibility is accomplished at least in part bymaking the body thickness at the vertex as little as may be consistentwith the desired degree of protection. Moreover, the wider the cavity 18provided in the side away from the vertex, the greater the amount offlexing that can be accomplished before the two sides of the cavity cometogether.

The invention hasbeen described with reference to the preferredembodiment. Obviously modifications and alterations will occur to othersupon the reading and understanding of this specification. It is myintention to include all such modifications and alterations insofar asthey come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalencethereof.

I claim:

l. A vinyl plastic bump-protection molding adhesively mountable on anunderlying motor vehicle panel having relatively inclined panel portionscomprising, an elongated body of vinyl plastic having a longitudinalaxis, an outer surface, inner surface portions on laterally oppositesides of said axis, and a generally V- shaped recess between said innersurface portions and dividing said body into laterally interconnectedsections, adhesive means on each of said inner surface portions foradhering the corresponding inner surface portion to one of said panelportions, said V-shaped recess having a vertex spaced from said outersurface to define a longitudinally extending area of thin connecsaidvertex and outer surface of about one-fourth the distance from saidvertex to the surface of said vehicle panel.

3. The bump-protection molding of claim 1, wherein said outer surface ofsaid body includes outer surface portions on laterally opposite sides ofsaid area of thin connection, and a decorative strip bonded to each ofsaid outer surface portions.

1. A vinyl plastic bump-protection molding adhesively mountable on anunderlying motor vehicle panel having relatively inclined panel portionscomprising, an elongated body of vinyl plastic having a longitudinalaxis, an outer surface, inner surface portions on laterally oppositesides of said axis, and a generally V-shaped recess between said innersurface portions and dividing said body into laterally interconnectedsections, adhesive means on each of said inner surface portions foradhering the corresponding inner surface portion to one of said panelportions, said V-shaped recess having a vertex spaced from said outersurface to define a longitudinally extending area of thin connectionbetween said body sections, said inner surface portions when notattached to the vehicle body extending generally parallel to oneanother, and said area of connection in conjunction with said V-shapedrecess providing for said body sections to be relatively displacedtoward one another for said inner surface portions to be positionedparallel to the corresponding one of said inclined panel portions. 2.The bump-protection molding of claim 1, wherein said area of thinconnection has a thickness between said vertex and outer surface ofabout one-fourth the distance from said vertex to the surface of saidvehicle panel.
 3. The bump-protection molding of claim 1, wherein saidouter surface of said body includes outer surface portions on laterallyopposite sides of said area of thin connection, and a decorative stripbonded to each of said outer surface portions.